Jay Taft: All on the line for Jay Cutler, too?

LAKE FOREST - We all know Sunday's 3:25 p.m. showdown at Soldier Field between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers brings with it a win-or-go-home scenario.

Out of the 16 games this week, 13 of them could have playoff implications. But none - well, maybe one other: Dallas-Philadelphia - has the draw of the Bears-Packers matchup. The winner of the final game of the regular season claims this year's NFC North title, and the loser cleans out their lockers a day or two later.

But is this a make-or-break game for Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, too? He won't admit as much.

"This isn't a personal game for anybody in that locker room. It's all of us together," Cutler said this week. "The pressure to win is there every week. We can't make this game more than it is."

Oh, but if you lose and stink up the joint, the Bears surely will soon enough. And, if you win and outshine former league MVP Aaron Rodgers, your agent most definitely will in the near future as well.

For both the Bears, and for Cutler, this isn't your ordinary game - heck, it's not even your ordinary do-or-die game.

There have been 187 games between these two franchises, 92 since the Super Bowl era kicked off in 1967. Sunday's game will be the second-most important game in that era, only behind the 2010 NFC Championship game, won by the eventual Super Bowl-champion Packers.

And while Cutler has played in 103 NFL games, this one could be the most important of them all for him, too.

Cutler could be on the last hours of his contract with the Bears, and plenty of attention will be turned to the bargaining table as soon as the team is either bumped from the playoffs, or bounced out of the playoff picture.

Let's not talk about the fact that Cutler is 1-8 against Green Bay, and that he's been to the playoffs just once - yes, again we bring up the 2010 postseason, when they were eventually KO'ed by the Packers.

But there will be plenty of talk about what happens in Sunday's Bears-Packers game when the two sides sit down, probably shortly after, and begin negotiating Cutler's possible next contract with the Bears. What Cutler does on the field Sunday will most definitely play a role in what's said, and who's talking the loudest.

While he was playing the best football of his career when a groin and ankle injury sent him to the sidelines earlier this season, he's still not a top-10, upper-eschelon QB. While he has an 88.1 passer rating this year, which would tie for the best in his seven-year career as a starter, I still have him ranked as the 14th best quarterback in the league, behind guys like Russell Wilson and Andrew Luck, and with youngsters like Nick Foles and Andy Dalton breathing down his neck.

While he's been better in Marc Trestman's QB-friendly system, he still hasn't made the climb into the elite ranks like many (including himself) had hoped. There is still time - right?

Well, Sunday's performance - and yes, even the outcome - could have quite a bearing on that looming question.